Young Writers Society

If I give you an imaginary cookie, can I be a Mod?

*ducks*

Yes, if and when we do apply, pretty colors will just be a fun bonus. Haha.

That's not the only thing that matters, Rosey.

*stabs fishr*

And really, you don't want to be a moderator. Trust me on this. XD

Haruno Sakura wrote:I didn't know you guys read my posts...
I also thought basically everyone got in when they applied.

Haha, we do! We read your posts and figure out whether you're a good role model for writing excellence or not. That's why it's so important to do whatever you need to do to get your position, if you're serious on applying. If you want to be a greeter, then you have to make sure you greet people and are friendly and willing to help. If you want to be an instructor, you have to make sure that your critiques are excellent. And we want you very comfortable with the rules and general guidelines because while you're a greeter or instructor, we'll keep on monitoring you, since you are a role model of YWS. Basically? You have to be squeaky clean.

Because of this, we deny a lot of people. Since it's all anonymous to apply, most people are quiet about their rejection and, if they're serious about becoming an instructor or greeter, strive to do better. Which is good! We like signs of improvement! Then there are others who complain about it on their blogs. This, of course, is really amusing because those people think it's a conspiracy against them, even though there are only nine people who decide who gets in and who doesn't. Hmm... nine people vs. approximately 9000 members. Yeah, we're totally going to focus on making one member's life miserable. XD And then some members don't care and only applied because of the pretty colors. But considering that we almost have nine thousand members and less than a hundred are greeters or instructors, you can bet that we are definitely very selective and looking for excellence.

Of course, each of the nine people who get to decide have somewhat different notions of what excellence is, so depending on who is approving you, you may or may not be accepted, if you're not quite excellent but really close. What I personally like to do in those cases is read scathing reviews on your work and see how you handled it. If you are dignified and nice to your reviewers, then I'll accept you. If not, I'll reject you. (And that's why it pays to be nice to other members! )

But other judges have different standards and might just reject you (with an explanation why, of course), just to be on the safe side. It really all depends!

Hmm... that was a long rant. Hopefully it's cleared up some misconceptions on greeters and instructors.

Can I be a Greeter so that my name will match my eyes?

>.>

<.<

What I personally like to do in those cases is read scathing reviews on your work and see how you handled it. If you are dignified and nice to your reviewers, then I'll accept you. If not, I'll reject you.

I have seen a lot of those "my story rawks ur readin it rong!" replies, though. It's depressing.

Hilarious rant, Snoink. I got rejected on my first try, and then accepted on my second! Anyway, people really do apply with bad grammar? When they want to be purples? Okay... weird world.

Haha! Yes. I think I rejected you, but you were under a month, so yeah.

And let me just put it this way:

Evi wrote this, "i soooow ant 2 b a reveiwr juz cuz i get 2 be purple"

She isn't that far from the truth. Except, of course, they wouldn't spell out the second "be" (they would write it as "b") and they would misspell the word "purple." And they might say, "bcuz im nice nd i ilke reveiwing." Since obviously that's the only prerequisite. XD

I have seen a lot of those "my story rawks ur readin it rong!" replies, though. It's depressing.

Haha, if I caught an instructor saying that, they would totally get a warning from me. I'm a slight grammar fanatic. There are instructors who would say something to that effect, but they're rare, fortunately, and they're usually smart enough to sound somewhat less pompous.

Here's my question.

If someone makes a big deal about applying for Greeter/Instructor, like talking about it in their blog beforehand and complaining about it afterwards, does that hurt their chances to become one?

Demi- I know that. I was just playing literalist there.

I was actually starting to think that you rejected people automatically just to see if they are determined. But, I suppose if there's no room for improvment then you have to accept them.

Remember that day in chat when you commented that a lot of people wanted to be instructors that day?

And how I said I was going to wait a couple of months until I get better at reviewing?

Yeah.....still staying true to my word.

I feel sorry for Mods if they have to go through that a lot. It's wrong and the members should know better.

Conrad Rice wrote:Here's my question.

If someone makes a big deal about applying for Greeter/Instructor, like talking about it in their blog beforehand and complaining about it afterwards, does that hurt their chances to become one?

Haha, this is something that really depends on who's judging you, which is why it's important that, if you really really really want to be an instructor/greeter, that you need to try again, if you think they're wrong. But yeah. The answer really depends on the type of blog entry written and the moderator judging the member. For instance, if the blog entry is something like, "I'm going to apply for greeter because I think I fit the requirements--wish me luck!" then that's completely harmless.

However! If the blog entry is more like, "They better accept me this time because I'm awesome!" and it's completely arrogant and stuff, and the moderator actually sees the entry, then it has a chance of influencing the moderator in the wrong way. Considering that half of Big Brother reads blogs, half of Big Brother doesn't read blogs, it's really unlikely to have an effect on the decision unless you're extremely obnoxious about it. In the end, it's your posts that count.

Now, if you complain obnoxiously about being denied, I would say it does have a negative effect. And mind you, you have to be completely obnoxious and accusatory. A simple, "Ahh, my greeter application failed for the second time! " is not enough. You have to insist that there is a conspiracy against you and that the judges obviously can't comprehend your awesomeness because if they did, they would accept you and you're so misunderstood and you can't stand YWS and you're thinking about leaving because you feel hurt and abused, etc. Oh, and the conspiracy... obviously, the judges are out to get you because they want you to feel worthless. To top this off, you PM people who are instructors/greeters and insist that they explain to you what happened. Remember what I said about them not being the ones to judge? Yeah, don't harass them. In fact, such harassment, if uncalled for, may possibly warrant a ban, depending on the situation. So instead of having the moderating staff work together to decide whether you become an instructor/greeter or not, we'll be working together to see whether you get banned and, if so, how long that ban lasts. This, of course, pretty much ruins your chances of becoming an instructor/greeter for the next couple of months.

If you're not as extreme as this, then don't worry. This is fairly extreme, and even then, you still have a chance for redemption. What we do ask, if you're really upset about your response, is to cool down before you submit another application. There is a reason why you got denied, and it probably has nothing to do with you pesonally... in fact, whenever we do deny you, I know we have to provide a reason for denial. Review the reason for denial carefully (often it has tips on how to get better) and rethink why you really want to be a greeter/instructor. If it's just about the distinction, then that's probably not enough.

Oh Snoink, you took the words right out of my mouth. The amount of times I've had to deny people because they haven't read the guidelines for becoming a greeter... *falls over*

Wow, I had no idea being a Greeter/Instructor was so selective. Or that so many people applied.

I find it funny that people would apply to be Greeters and not greet, or Instructors and not review. Personally, I was a Greeter before the position even existed, just because I liked welcoming people. In fact, Nate said I was the person he was thinking of when he created the Greeter position.

Does having a pretty-colored name really matter enough for people to develop conspiracy theories? Conspiracy theories should be reserved for important things, like 9-11 and The Holy Grail.

I didn't know the process was so selective either. I did get denied once, while I was more relatively new, but then I tried harder with my reviews and helped out new members and that was fun and everything worked out, no sweat.

If your application gets denied, it's really not the end of the world.

*Snugs Snoink* We should leave dear 'Rina with the great big pile of work more often, just look at what it inspires her to do XD